Current Section

Ranking the best high school teams of the “modern era”

What Minnesota Class AA and Class A boys’ hockey programs are truly the best, according to each season’s final rankings?

According to each season’s final rankings from, Duluth East and Breck are the top Class AA and Class A boys’ hockey programs in the “modern era.” Let’s Play Hockey photos by Mike Thill

Edina enters the 2019 Class AA boys’ state tournament as the No. 1 team in the state and in search of its record 10th state championship. The Hornets will be challenged by a strong field that includes No. 2 Blaine and No. 3 St. Thomas Academy. On the Class A side, three of the state’s top six Class A teams advanced to St. Paul, setting up a battle for the state title.

But what Minnesota Class AA and Class A boys’ hockey programs are truly the best, according to each season’s final rankings? To determine the top teams, we looked at the final top 20, beginning with the 1993-94 season – the year the Minnesota State High School League established Class A and AA – and awarded 20 points for a team finishing No. 1, 19 points for No. 2, and so on. Those points for all seasons were then added together.

The results? In Class AA, Northern Minnesota power Duluth East takes the top spot over top Twin Cities programs Edina and Hill-Murray for first place in our “modern era” rankings. In Class A, Twin Cities private school Breck owns No. 1, followed by Northern Minnesota powers Hermantown and Warroad.

CLASS AA NOTES: 68 teams have been included in the final rankings since 1994 • 10 teams in the Class AA rankings below are currently in Class A • the top 10 includes nine public schools and one private school • Duluth East and Moorhead are the only Northern Minnesota teams in the top 10 • Duluth East and Hill-Murray are the only schools to appear in all 25 final rankings • six schools have appeared in the final rankings 20 or more times since 1994 – Duluth East, Hill-Murray, Eden Prairie, Edina, Elk River, Moorhead • based on the rankings, Cretin-Derham Hall’s 2006 state title was the largest outlier as the Raiders have appeared in the final rankings only eight times since 1994, with an average ranking of 12.6 • Edina ranks first in Class AA state titles (4) and average final ranking (5.86)

CLASS A NOTES: 77 teams have been included in the final rankings since 1994 • 16 teams in the Class A rankings below are currently in Class AA • the top 10 is split evenly between public and private school teams, and Twin Cities and Northern Minnesota teams • six teams have appeared in the final rankings 20 or more times since 1994 – Breck, Warroad, Hermantown, Blake, Totino-Grace and Mahtomedi • based on the rankings, Eveleth’s 1998 state title was the largest outlier as the Golden Bears have appeared in the final rankings only five times since 1994, with an average ranking of 10.8 • though now in Class AA, St. Thomas Academy ranks first in Class A state titles (5) and average final ranking (3.3)